1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a detector for atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter (“AF” stands for atrial fibrillation or flutter in the following). The detector is preferably a component of a medical implant such as an implantable cardiac pacemaker or an implantable cardioverter/defibrillator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Atrial fibrillation is a state of disordered excitation of the atrial myocardium, possibly revolving around atrial flutter, in which the atrium provides practically no contribution to the pump output of a heart. In an intraatrial electrocardiogram, an atrial fibrillation may be recognized from a high excitation frequency and a low amplitude.
Treating an atrial fibrillation with the aid of implantable atrial defibrillators is known, for example. Examples of atrial defibrillators of this type and detectors for atrial fibrillation are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,267,559, 5,433,729, 5,464,431, 5,464,432, 5,486,199,and 5,720,295.
Before the background of the known prior art, it is the object of the present invention to provide a detector for reliable recognition of AF, which may be implemented at an acceptable outlay and which has the highest possible sensitivity and also the highest possible specificity.